Madrona backs Smartsheet.com

Bellevue online project management startup Smartsheet.com has landed $2.69 million in new venture capital financing in a deal led by Madrona Venture Group and former Onyx Chief Executive Brent Frei.

The 9-person company competes against Microsoft, 37 Signals, Google’s JotSpot and eProject, a 110-person Seattle company which just landed $12 million in funding from Bay Partners and others last month.

Maria Colacurcio, vice president of marketing at Smartsheet, said that most of the competitors go after the high end, while Smartsheet is a “light weight project management tool” designed for teams with five to 10 people.

So far, she said 10,000 teams in companies such as T-Mobile, The Gap and Specialized Bicycles are using the online service. It ranges in cost from $25 to $149 per month.

In the case of Specialized, Colacurcio said that the bike maker uses the tool to allow groups of people in six countries to collaborate on brochures and other marketing materials so the messaging is clear in different languages. She said that is much easier than sending spreadsheets to France and then waiting for updates to be returned.

“It’s all online, so they can log on and coordinate,” said Colacurcio.

Early next week, Smartsheet plans to unveil an upgraded service that will allow users to collaborate with one another in real time.

The company launched last summer shortly after Frei’s other company — Bellevue-based Onyx Software was sold to private equity firms for $92 million. Frei, the husband of Colacurcio, serves as chairman of Smartsheet. Its chief executive is Mark Mader, the former senior vice president of global services at Onyx.

The new funding, which brings total financing to more than $4 million, is intended to carry the company through profitability. Mader declined to say when that would occur.